meditation?

topic posted Wed, May 7, 2008 - 1:17 PM by  ஹૐ adya
So do you...?

How often do you make it to the meditation cushion?

Can you ever meditate too much?

please share your thoughts : )

  • Re: meditation?

    Wed, May 7, 2008 - 1:35 PM
    i've been informed by a Certain Luminous aspect of "SELF" that another case of "Applying the 3rd's" is in order... (3 Binah, our supernal womb...)

    i was informed that we would benifit greatly from spending (roughly) a third of our lives sleeping/dreaming/REM, a third working in the mundane world and a third in meditation...

    the under world-the material world-heaven

    so i would think that spending more than a third might be too much, butthen again i have not done that...
    • Re: meditation?

      Wed, May 7, 2008 - 3:14 PM
      hardly ever really meditate any more, since I started this job 4 years ago in fact. Before that I used to, quite a bit, and was in a meditation group. And I think yes, you can meditate too much. If you want to meditate all the time, you really need to live somewhere where other people take care of stuff for you. It's tempting, though. But it can just make you nonfunctional in the world. I'd rather these days be able to maintain an awareness as I go of the divine and to deliberately connect to the within and without -- that last one I'm getting a bit of success at.
  • Re: meditation?

    Wed, May 7, 2008 - 4:55 PM
    I am debating whether this should be a discussion to be had personally with you... I am very iffy about putting my experiences on public forum. It's the whole pearls before swine thing, not to say those of this tribe are swine... But hey I don't know everyone, and everyone can also read this. It's like talking about intimate moments with a beloved person, only more intense and intimate then the intimacy with a human could ever be, and yet it's the intimacy with myself.
    • Re: meditation?

      Wed, May 7, 2008 - 11:40 PM
      I try and live my entire life in that state of mind.....by doing so, I keep out of trouble, my blood pressure is at a healthy level, and I always pretty much have that Mona Lisa smile on my face. Yyyeeehhh it's possible to walk and eeehmmm chew gum at the same time, just takes lots of practice ; ).
      • Re: meditation?

        Wed, May 7, 2008 - 11:43 PM
        I agree with you there Rasa....but...I'm to the point....who gives a hoot what anyone thinks about me and my words. Freedom baby...freeeeeeedom : ).
        • Re: meditation?

          Thu, May 8, 2008 - 4:56 AM
          Haha. I agree, I could care less what people think of me. But there's something degrading to me about sharing spiritual experiences with mass amounts of people. Not because I care what they think, but because I feel like I am casting my pearls before swine. What would a swine do with pearls? Probably drool on them, and play with them in the mud, maybe try to eat them... A swine does not even know how to judge the pearls, they just include them in the filth of their mud play.

          A lot of different traditions require that you keep your experiences and the talk of levels you reached to yourself. There's a definite destructive thing that occurs to those experiences when you share them with those you should not.
          • Re: meditation?

            Thu, May 8, 2008 - 10:23 AM
            meditation is good, vipassana association recommneds 2 hours a day minimum, to much is kind of like something to worry about when you get there!
          • Re: meditation?

            Thu, May 8, 2008 - 12:52 PM
            how do you know the "swine" (why the negative associations with swine?) wouldnt just ignore your pearls and go on with more important business... i would think the higher self would chuckle at the ego's value judgements anyway, or maybe "IT" would enjoy some mud play...

            "A swine does not even know how to judge the pearls, they just include them in the filth of their mud play."

            maybe these swine could teach us something about being too judgemental and armored when it comes to our experiences...
            • Re: meditation?

              Thu, May 8, 2008 - 2:06 PM
              I am not saying the swine in any sense of negativity. I am also not saying it with judgement. I am just using a metaphor. I also did say that the swines would ignore the pearls by going about their business when I said they don't know what to do with the pearls. I don't have a higher or a lower self. To me it's all the self. And believe me, I enjoy a *lot* of mud play to the point of being an outcast to most.

              However, it's just in my personal experience that when I share intimate spiritual experiences and transformations it tends to demean them. Not by the others who I tell it to, but from the simple act of sharing it. I am not saying I never do. But I also don't go around talking about what I do in bed with my sexual partners because it's intimate. It's even hundreds of times more intimate when I meditate and become absorbed within. It just does not feel right to share things that intimate with anyone. I am not saying it's right or wrong, it's just wrong for me. I generally find that my self knows what is best for it.

              I just maybe used the wrong metaphors and words in my last post.
              • Re: meditation?

                Thu, May 8, 2008 - 9:57 PM
                Rasa,

                please don't share anything too personal here... and what one person might feel is too personal may not be to someone else or vice versa..and I do understand about talking about spiritual and sacred experiences, and for the most part, the Goddess has got my tongue and wants me to keep silent on much of what goes on with Her. There is also that old adage that goes: "To dare, to will, to be silent."

                I try to keep the trolls and swine outta here by hanging severed heads by the door ...
                and by not making it a anyone can join tribe, but anyone can read : )~
              • Re: meditation?

                Fri, May 9, 2008 - 5:46 AM
                no, im just a pig adorer and my ego gets all messy when these type of metaphors are used... pigs are clean and actually seem pretty smart... I LOVE PIGS!
                • Re: meditation?

                  Fri, May 9, 2008 - 8:40 AM
                  Oh honey I think they are darling! I was just using some silly old biblical proverb. I was just thinking today how much I would *love* to live on a farm and be a servant to all the beautiful kinds of animals that exist on a farm. I love pigs, cows, horses... They are such gentle animals.
  • Re: meditation?

    Thu, May 8, 2008 - 7:31 PM
    For me, my meditation has become a form of a moving contemplation. There is so much Beauty flowing in and around and through my awareness that i cannot imagine sitting on a cushion...(smile). I am a part of the River now and a flowing silence and jubilant swirling around obstacles has become my Way.

    There is this stillness at the Center of my awareness which never move, but all around this does Laughing Life move and flow with me.
    Each moment carries it's own answer so I have let go of having a past to sort through.
    Aliveness is always in the NOW, so I have left the "thinking about" zone.

    Eris drops me at Shiva's Door,
    At the Door of Everything
    and Nothing
    Evermore....

    All Hail Discordia!
    RevElation
    • Re: meditation?

      Fri, May 9, 2008 - 6:54 AM
      I find myself with so much responsibility that actual time, just quiet time, is brief during the spring season. To be clear, I've taken on all the responsibilities I have, I'm not being forced into it, and some are commitments between myself and me, to study or garden etc., but spring is here with summer around the corner and it's often 9pm before I'm in the free zone. I start the day at 6am.

      The meditation that I've adopted to keep the consciousness that comes with meditation present, is one that keeps me safe at work where most of the tools I use are sharp or moving at high rpms or both. I'm a carpenter building residences for a Buddhist community.

      It's as simple and as profound as this, I'm present in my body as I work. If I have to be "thinking", I just stop and be still.
      I live in my hands and feet, my position and motion, my effort and relaxed momentum.
      It works well with partnered activity also.

      Consciousness and motion, for as much time as I can do so with real awareness,
      and being understanding of the times I'm not, being kind or gentle with myself.
  • Re: meditation?

    Fri, May 9, 2008 - 6:40 AM
    I meditate when I am actually performing witchcraft. For the purpose of first clearing my mind for better focus on the task a hand, as well as throughout the process of whatever charm or spell I am conjuring to better connect with that deity whic I am calling upon for assistance in delivering the spell.
    • Re: meditation?

      Fri, May 9, 2008 - 7:01 AM
      MoJo....thanks for saying it so succinctly and well! Me, too. I feel that, as Witches, we actually move into Meditations throughout the day (and even, perhaps, in our dreams).

      My dear mentor, Marion Weinstein, in her Book of Shadows (__Earth Magic__) describes "Alignments" that are done with the deities of her path (Dianic for women and men). These are basically Meditations upon those Deities, with the result that one becomes aligned with them while doing magic.

      www.twpt.com/weinstein.htm

      No matter why or how you do Meditation, it is a great exercise for training the mind. It can also be a wonderful pleasure.
      • Re: meditation?

        Fri, May 9, 2008 - 3:54 PM
        Integration from the meditation cushion into every breath, thought and action is the real goal, imo....

        I love the idea of actively meditating with focussed intent, or what is also known as constraint to the yogi(ni), bringing it into all aspects of life ...

        One of my favorite active meditations is simply called "walking meditation" as done as a deep appreciation or awareness of nature.

        namaste,
        adya
      • Re: meditation?

        Sat, May 10, 2008 - 3:09 PM
        Perhaps this is why I am constantly being accused of day dreaming :)
        • Re: meditation?

          Sat, May 10, 2008 - 3:50 PM
          It's funny you say that Mojo, I've been accused of day dreaming all my life, even though I'm productive. People are always asking me, where were you just now ? I tend not to say that I was spiraling deeply into a feeling or thought, but just that I was day dreaming. :)
          • Re: meditation?

            Yesterday, 7:03 AM
            Same here CG...I tend to outwardly leave, but still manage to pay enough attention to what is going on to answer any questions. I drove my teachers in school absolutely nuts with it.

Recent topics in "Dark Goddesses"

Topic Author Replies Last Post
Dear Diary... Amsu 0 Today, 2:19 PM
Her Mysteries? ஹૐ adya 10 Today, 1:36 PM
Monday Amsu 0 Today, 11:11 AM
Tell the Wickerman Amsu 2 Yesterday, 3:08 PM
How I feel about you... 2 May 7, 2008